Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s Sabar Bonda takes place in a village near Sangamner in Maharashtra‘s Ahmednagar district. The Marathi film explores the manner in which shared childhood memories between two men blossom into a taboo romance.
After Anand’s father dies in Mumbai, he accompanies his mother Suman to his father’s ancestral home to observe the traditional 10-day mourning period. Anand’s family gives him a long list of dos and don’ts. What nobody tells Anand (Bhushaan Manoj) is that he will run into his old acquaintance Balya (Suraaj Suman).
Balya gives Anand much-needed comfort and the perfect excuse to escape his stifling family. Their relationship is best captured by the cactus pears – the red, lush and juicy sabar bonda – that grow in the region and that have inspired the film’s title.
Kanawade’s restrained, tenderly observed feature debut will be globally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (January 23-February 2). Sabar Bonda is the only Indian title in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section, and the first Marathi movie to be picked for this category. For Kanawade, a self-taught filmmaker who grew up in hardscrabble circumstances and previously worked as an interior designer, reaching a prestigious festival like Sundance is a remarkable feat.
The 38-year-old filmmaker spoke to Scroll about what inspired Sabar Bonda, the challenges involved in mounting the film, and his depiction of gay love in a rural setting. Here are edited excerpts from the interview.
Sabar Bonda appears to have come from a deeply personal space.
The film has been inspired by my experiences of grieving for my father in my ancestral village in 2016. I wanted to re-imagine the 10 days that I spent there. It was a claustrophobic experience. I didn’t get a chance to properly grieve for my loss. People kept asking me when I was going to get married.
What if I had a friend there, who knew about me [that I am gay] and with whom I could speak? I started working on the script in 2020.
While I made the film in my mother’s village Kharshinde, I grew up in Mumbai. My father was a chauffeur, and my mother is an illiterate homemaker. Although I studied interior designing, I always wanted to be a filmmaker.
I remember reading Annabhau Sathe’s Krushnakathchya Katha. One of the stories, Shmashanatil Sona, was so cinematically written that I could visualise everything. I would write stories from time to time. In 2007, I made a short film alongside working as an interior designer.
My father worked as a driver for most of his life. Despite his problems, he supported me when I said I wanted to be a filmmaker – whatever you do, do it passionately, he said.
The film is unusual in a few respects. Balya is open about and comfortable with his identity, desires and choices. It’s Anand who initially appears reluctant to get together with Balya. Tell us about the dynamic between the men.
Anand was an easier character since he is based on my own experience. For Balya, I had to think a little.
When I was making short films, I would get feedback from queer people in rural areas. They told me how, while they were completely okay with their identities, they faced pressure from their families, especially for marriage. One of them told me about a fight he had with his parents, which you see in the film. These were among the things that helped me create Balya.
Sexuality is such a human thing, it’s so natural. Even guys in villages are comfortable with who they are. This is something we don’t always see in queer films. We see the struggle and questioning, but that isn’t the only truth. Some people are completely comfortable with themselves, they know what they want. We need to see this portrayal too.
You have used a specific aspect ratio to shoot Sabar Bonda. The closeness between the men, and their growing feelings for each other, unfold in compositions with curved edges, as though we are watching photographs come to life. There are also several lengthy takes and scenes with stillness. What kind of conversations did you have with cinematographer Vikas Urs?
I had been looking for a cinematographer for three years. I liked the way Vikas Urs shot the Kannada movies Pedro and Shivamma.
I told Vikas that the film needed to look ultra-simplistic and real – like life unfolding in front of the camera. I wanted wide frames that allowed us to see the characters moving in their spaces, in nature.
I took photographs of possible locations, and these were a reference for Vikas. Also, the film was 90 per cent storyboarded before we actually started the shoot.
I had previously tried the 2.39:1 wide aspect ratio that is typically used in Bollywood and Hollywood films. But it didn’t give me the feeling I wanted. I also didn’t want the boxy 4:3 format, which is used in many films these days.
The 1.66:1 aspect ratio created the width and height needed to shoot the landscape and even the close-ups. The rounded edges of the frames came from my nostalgia of watching celluloid films as a child in cinemas.
Also throughout the film, characters are talking about memories. You feel like you are watching pictures, so the camera is often static.
How did you find Bhushaan Manoj, who plays Anand, and Suraaj Suman, who plays Balya?
The casting process began in 2021 and went on for three years. The brief for the actors was the same that was given to Vikas – the simpler the performance would be, the more impact it would have.
I told casting director Yugandhar Deshpande that I wanted faces that looked like they were actually living the lives of the characters. I also had some specific requirements. For instance, when we see rural characters, they are often dark-skinned, which is not always true. I also didn’t want somebody too muscular.
Most actors rejected even the auditions. Bhushaan was completely okay with the subject and connected with it. He is a trained theatre actor. When he auditioned, he was so perfect that we finalised him on the spot.
I asked Bhushan if he had any actor friends who could play Balya. Suraj is from the Ahmednagar region itself. Suraj too liked the script. When I heard his voice, I knew that he could play Balya.
Jayshri Jagtap, who plays Anand’s mother Suman, has been in plays, television shows and films. This is her first major film. For the other actors, we got actors from local theatre groups.
The film’s title refers to the cactus pear, which is tough on the outside and tender inside – and a remarkably sensuous-looking fruit. But you need visual effects to create it, right?
What happened is that when the shoot started, I couldn’t find a sabar bonda tree with flowers because it hadn’t rained in the village that year. We tried many things, including approaching a food stylist, but it didn’t work out.
We eventually reached out to farmers in Gujarat and South India, who cultivate cactus and sell its fruit to companies to make juice. A farmer in Gujarat sent us samples, which is what Anand is eating in the film. But the tree itself has been created with visual effects.
Whenever we think of the cactus, we think of a rugged landscape and a harsh climate, but then the cactus has this red, juicy and tender fruit. Like the tree and its fruit, the lives of the men are complicated. But they are navigating their problems, and staying true to themselves.
